A Marti Report Is a Birth Certificate for Your Ford Muscle Car

When it comes to documenting muscle cars, Ford guys have it good. Not only does every VIN tag identify the original engine that was installed in the vehicle, but a vast wealth of information is available from Ford’s own computer database, which is now exclusively licensed to Marti Auto Works. While a Marti Report is familiar to many Ford fans, even some Dearborn faithful may be foggy as to the genesis of the data, as well as some of the findings through the years.

In a nutshell, a Marti Report identifies a multitude of specifics about an individual car and is available for all FoMoCo products from 1967-2012. The Deluxe Report is the midrange of the three available levels of documentation, and the most popular. (A Standard report costs $18, Deluxe $46, and Elite $275.) The Deluxe Report identifies such things as a complete list of options, scheduled and actual build dates, selling dealership, and how many similar cars were built. The information is not only a gold mine for current owners but also a fantastic resource for potential buyers. The latter may find the Standard Report adequate for their needs. It includes a complete list of original options, colors, and drivetrain specifics. The Standard Report is sent as a PDF file in 7-10 days, and rush/same-day service is also available.

Far beyond the individual stats that the Ford/Marti database can provide is the potential to research information more broadly applicable to the hobby. Ever wonder how many 1971 Mustang convertibles were built with the 429 Super Cobra Jet and four-speed? The answer is five. Care to know the breakdown between 3.91- and 4.11-geared cars among them? Marti can do that as well. In short, the Marti data has transformed the Ford collector car scene with an incredible amount of factory documentation and accurate production numbers, enabling buyers to purchase with confidence and dispelling years of false information, myths, and rumor.

Marti Auto Works’ owner and driving force, Kevin Marti, is actually a Mercury Cougar fan. “When I was 16, I was looking for my first car and was primarily interested in a Chevelle or Camaro,” he says. “While looking through newspaper ads I stumbled across a listing for a 1967 Cougar. I went and looked at it, fell for it, and the rest is history. I still own that same Cougar today.”

It’s from Kevin’s enthusiast core that Marti Auto Works initially sprang, offering concours-quality wear items such as radiator hoses, fan belts, and sparkplug wires, which remain a big part of the business today. As a participant in the hobby, Kevin developed a curiosity for understanding the rarity of FoMoCo products. Through contacts he made over a period of 15 years, he came to realize there was a good chance that Ford computer data still existed from the 1960s. Eventually he connected with the right people at Ford, determined that the data was still there for cars built from 1967 on, and was able to exclusively license the database.

In an indirect way, Ralph Nader played a role in the existence of the Ford/Marti database. Nader’s famous auto safety campaigns led to the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966. Among other things, the act required manufacturers to retain detailed production data for the purpose of potential recalls. “This same sort of data was produced by Ford beginning in about 1957,” says Kevin, “but unfortunately it was erased each year prior to the 1966 Safety Act requiring it to be kept.”

Myths and Revelations

One of the great things that the Ford/Marti data has done is dispel a number of myths, some literally decades old. Chief among them? The 1967-1968 427 Mustang. In short, none were ever produced at any of the Ford assembly plants, despite reports of the contrary coming from various magazine articles, owner’s manual references, and the old-timer who swears that he saw an original 427 Mustang back in the day. The conjecture is understandable, as Ford frequently offered the same drivetrain options in its intermediates and ponycars. Fairlane had a 427 option in 1967, and the Cougar GT-E had a 427 in 1968, but it turns out that neither crossed over to the Mustang. The same holds true for 1968 Torinos. None were built with the 427, despite early FoMoCo sales brochures listing the 427 as an option.

Another myth revolved around 428 Cobra Jet Mustangs. A popular book reported production breakdowns of these cars that were later proven to be erroneous. The book identified 1970 as the year that the fewest number of 428 CJ Mustangs were built, followed by 1968 1/2 and then 1969. At the time it was a head scratcher, as 1968 1/2 CJ production lasted just four months while 1970 production spanned the model year. Nevertheless, the book numbers were picked up as gospel. It took the Marti data to reveal the legit numbers: The fewest CJ Mustangs were built as 1968 1/2 models; 1970 had about three times as many; 1969 was the most popular 428 CJ Mustang.

Closely related to the busted myths are the numerous revelations that have come to light. For instance, it has long been understood that while Ford offered the 427 as a production option in 1967 Fairlanes, the engine was strangely unavailable with the sporty GT package. Marti has uncovered that there was one legit exception, a 427 GT that appears to have been built for a Ford executive.

Another revelation: When the 428 CJ was introduced to ponycars and intermediates in the spring of 1968, an oddity occurred in which CJ Torinos and Cyclones were not available with a four-speed. You could get a four-speed in a CJ Mustang or Cougar, but not in an intermediate, with one Marti-documented exception. That’s right, a single 1968 428 CJ Torino was built with a four-speed transmission.

These “one-of-one” examples turn up somewhat regularly in Marti’s reports, due to the way production data is broken down and because of the myriad option combinations offered by all manufacturers, not just Ford, in the 1960s. But not all one-of-ones have the same significance. You can’t really compare the collectability of, say, a 1968 Mustang coupe that’s one-of-one because it’s yellow, has a bench seat, a 390, and a three-speed stick with the Fairlane and Torino mentioned above. The latter two are truly noteworthy, unusual, and desirable cars.

Outside the Box

There are other ways to use the Marti data, such as the reverse search. Jim Chism hoped he might someday find the original 1968 Ford XL GT that was given to him as a high school graduation present by his parents in 1968. He says, “I knew the dealer where it was sold and the equipment that was on it [including a Q-code 428]. Kevin was able to reverse-search it and come up with the original VIN. Now I’ll know for sure if I ever find it, even though I admit the chances are small. The Deluxe Marti Report I had done on it makes me feel like I have some small token of the car still with me.”

These examples scratch the surface as to what the Ford/Marti database has to offer. A Marti Report will continue to be enviable proof for buyers, sellers, and enthusiastic owners of Dearborn iron, while new discoveries are perhaps limited only by the man-hours necessary to uncover them. Already known are the VINs of numerous famous movie cars (Kevin was instrumental in documenting what turned out to be the long-lost 1968 Mustang from the movie Bullitt), a non–GT-E 1968 Cougar with a 427, the identities and unique equipment of prototype Torino Talladegas sold to private parties, and more. It all makes us grateful that Kevin fell for that Cougar all those years ago, rather than a Chevelle. If the latter had happened, it’s quite possible the Ford community would still be living without this godsend of detailed production data.

Kevin Marti’s database and paperwork were critical to proving Andrew Hack’s 1971 SportsRoof—an eBay find he was going to turn into a driver—as the lone known prototype for the stillborn 1971 Boss 302 program.This is part of the Marti Elite Report for Luis Chanes’ 1970 Mach 1 Twister Special. It spells out in detail virtually everything about the car as it was built and delivered. Just 96 Twister Special Mustangs were made as part of a Kansas City Ford dealer promotion, with 28 being 428 SCJ/four-speeds such as this.Another day at the office for Kevin Marti and his staff. In addition to the vast Ford computer database Marti Auto Works is known for, the company also stores tens of thousands of invoices and documents on microfiche and paper in a 2,000-square-foot warehouse.This is one of eight Mustang convertibles built in 1971 with a 429 Super Cobra Jet engine. While the VIN will verify a 429 CJ car, documentation from Marti will prove out specific details such as gear ratio (3.91s or 4.11s mean SCJ), transmission, color, trim options, and even if the car originally rolled on the Magnum 500s.Chris Osborne’s 1970 Cougar is a rare and original 428 CJ XR7 model. If he were to sell the car, a Marti Report would reveal several items that a buyer would want to know. One, Ram Air is original to the car, something the 1970 VIN doesn’t show. Also, the car was originally Black Jade with a black vinyl top. As the guy who changed it to Competition Yellow, Osborne would be up front with a potential buyer. But if the car were to change hands several times in the future, the color change info might be lost in the shuffle. The Marti report will tell it like it is.When Walt Golembiewski bought his 1970 Torino GT convertible in 1989, he knew it was one rare beast, but it wasn’t until the advent of the Marti Report in 1997 that he fully understood how rare. It turns out just 19 1970 Torino GT converts were built with a 429 Super Cobra Jet, and of those, 13 were four-speed cars like his. (We offer our condolences to the Golembiewski family, for as we put this story together, we learned of Walt’s passing.)Only four factory Pastel Yellow Boss 302s were built out of a total production run of 7,014 Boss 302s for 1970. This model year saw a marked change for Boss color availability, going from just four for 1969 to nearly the full Ford color palate for 1970. Mike Bickford is the proud owner of this rare Boss. His Marti Report proves its Code 9 Pastel Yellow provenance.Ford door tags changed from an aluminum tag to a sticker in 1970. Either way, door tags can prove much about a given Ford. But would you recognize the difference between an original and a reproduction that had been altered to reflect a transmission or color change? What if the tag had gone missing? These possibilities illustrate the relevance of a Marti Report beyond the information that can be deduced from the door tag.

Jim Chism’s 1968 XL GT Fastback may be long gone, but he knows the VIN of the car thanks to a search of Marti’s database. The scrapbook photo shows the fullsize fastback as new, along with Chism and his cousins, Susan and Tommy Flowers.Kevin Marti’s database was particularly revealing for 428 Cobra Jet Mustang owners, as some erroneous production numbers had been widely circulated in previous years. Take Neil Biddlecombe’s 1968 1/2 Mustang coupe. We now know that just 221 coupes were equipped with the 428 CJ that year, making for a rarely seen beast.

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